Tim Bradley recommends that Terence Crawford bring his A-game against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez because he’s going to be getting hit harder than he’s ever been in their main event fight on September 13th.
Crawford’s Pre-Fight Taunt
Bradley thinks Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) was testing Canelo (63-2-2 39 KOs) when he walked up on him during their face-off in New York. Crawford wanted to get in as close as possible while taunting Alvarez, and reacted by shoving him back. It was a little push, but Crawford didn’t attempt to get close after that.
Canelo-Crawford will meet in 81 days on Netflix from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. This is Crawford’s first true mega-fight. Although he fought Errol Spence in 2023, that wasn’t a true mega-fight against a huge star.
It took 17 years and Turki Alalshikh for the Nebraska native to finally get the fight he wanted. Crawford probably could have gotten mega-fights earlier in his career if he had moved up to middleweight when Canelo and Gennadiy Golovkin were both fighting in that division. He wasn’t into taking big risks until now. When he moved up to 154, he targeted Israil Madrimov, a boxer, rather than the punchers Bakhram Murtazaliev or Vervil Ortiz Jr.
Canelo’s Unfazed History
“You [Crawford] have got to be on your game. This is one thing called Mexican pride. This fight is on Mexican Independence Day,” said Tim Bradley on his YouTube channel, talking about the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight. “This isn’t Canelo’s biggest fight either. It’s probably his biggest paycheck. It’s probably his biggest event.
“Canelo was 23 years old when he fought the best fighter on planet Earth at the time, Floyd Mayweather. He’s been here before. This stuff don’t faze him. Canelo is thinking, ‘As soon as you feel my power, you’re going to be the same just like everybody else. You’re going to run around that ring, and you better get the hell out of the way,'” said Bradley.
